One Guy Found a $175,000 Comic in His Wall. What Has Your Home Hidden?
Have you found a treasure, large or small, when remodeling your house? We want to see it!

Mitchell Parker
June 13, 2013
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
Homeowner and general contractor David Gonzalez of Hoffman, Minnesota, had a pleasant surprise while remodeling his house. Stuffed in the walls with old newspapers for insulation was a rare comic book from 1938: Action Comics #1, which introduces a character named Superman. The comic sold recently at auction for $175,000.
“I knew it was worth money,” Gonzalez, 34, told the Star Tribune. “But I had no idea how much.”
Not bad for having bought his house for only $10,100.
It's not uncommon for people to find treasures hiding in their walls or soil. Some homeowners have found old wallpaper and square nails from the late 1800s. Others have found newspapers from a century ago.
Image courtesy of Philipp Lenssen
Not bad for having bought his house for only $10,100.
It's not uncommon for people to find treasures hiding in their walls or soil. Some homeowners have found old wallpaper and square nails from the late 1800s. Others have found newspapers from a century ago.
Image courtesy of Philipp Lenssen
While renovating their 19th-century barn, these homeowners discovered a closet full of Prohibition-era liquor bottles.
Jean-Marc Bourgouin and Kathleen McCormack found seven layers of wallpaper and an original square-head nail inside their 1891 home.
A Toronto resident found old newspapers being used as insulation inside her century-old house.
Vennne Plumbing unearthed a former conversation pit in this basement.
We want to know: What have you found hidden in your house? Post a photo of your discovery and tell us about it in the Comments! Your story could be highlighted in an upcoming ideabook.
We want to know: What have you found hidden in your house? Post a photo of your discovery and tell us about it in the Comments! Your story could be highlighted in an upcoming ideabook.
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Not really a find, but I picked up a small bureau that looked like it had been a built-in at one time. When I was taking it apart to rebuild/refinish it, there was a big black shape on the underside of the top that looked like the outline of Batman.
I found a pornography magazine in the old craftsman I just bought. It was stuffed behind the paneling that I was tearing down. The magazine was titled "Snap" and it was from 1967. I threw it away, but friends afterwards were saying it might have been a collector's piece. Oh well, not interested in those magazines no matter the era!